Founders didn’t foresee all weapons

Monday

Jan 14, 2013 at 6:00 AM

The Second Amendment, ratified in 1791 and seemingly ambiguous today, states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Although it appears that the framers of our Constitution say we are allowed to keep arms, it does not, in fact, give us the right to do so.

There are factors that shed a different light on the right of gun ownership based upon the era.

America had just finished a revolution in its fight for freedom, and our forefathers felt a threat of going to battle again for this freedom.

Secondly, and overlooked, when said patriots went to battle, they were not issued weapons early on for this freedom fight, but simply took their own weapons that they used in their daily lives. These weapons were single-shot long rifles and muskets used to hunt their food for survival.

It wasn’t until later on in the revolution that Gen. George Washington asked Congress for guns and was actually unsure of weapons being sent. Following this theory, the Second Amendment clearly states “a well regulated Militia,” meaning with weapons for the security of the state, and nothing more.

But even if we concede individual ownership, our framers never envisioned multishot automatic weapons, and especially a “protected right” for a gun owner visiting a town square, a school, a place of meeting and worship, for mass slaughter of people under the right to “bear arms.”